Living in Wonders: 2012 Year in Review: Part 7 - Ramadhan in Nashville and Salam Perantauan 12'

Ramadhan 1432

2012 was my third year celebrating Ramadhan far, far away from home. Walaupun x dapat nk berbuka bersama family, I am still grateful to know that I'm never alone. I have a lot of friends here and we bersahur, cooked and berbuka puasa sama2. Biasanya kitorg sahur kt bilik jer dgn ape2 food yg ada - ikan sardin, telur dadar. Kalau rajin sikit, ktorg masak la spaghetti goreng etc.Time berbuka pulak biasanya ktorg ramai2 pergi bbuka dekat Islamic Center Nashville (ICN), about 15 minutes from our campus. Solat Maghrib, makan nasi arab then balik solat Isyak and tarawikh kat bilik dgn kawan2.

Kat USA ni lama sikit la puasa duration dye - from lbih kurg 4 pagi until 8 mlm. Memang mnguji kesabaran btul la esp summer time ni (summer kat sini panas cam Malaysia, except for the air is dryer and the the light rays somehow feel stronger. Cam pedih kulit kalau lama2 kat luar uncovered.

First day of Ramadhan

Going to ICN for iftar

Iftar with Vandy sisters makan nasi lemak :))

p/s: 2012 gonna be the last year I spent my Ramadhan in Nashville sbb this coming Ramadhan 2013, I'll be in Kelantan for summer break - balik puasa and raya yeayyy!! However, still ssedih sbb dh xleh rs pngalaman Ramadhan kat sini lg dah :(

Salam Perantauan 2012

Selamat Hari Raya AidiliFitri daripada kami Vanderbilt students!

Ramadhan is also the time where student2 oversea sibuk bergambar dgn baju raya masing2 sbb nk antar kt newspaper. Sama la jgk dgn Vandy students. Ktorg cari spot yg plg nampak American (kononnya) dgn harapan dpt convince kan pihak publisher untuk publishkan gmbr ktorg. Tips for those yg nak masuk paper kt ruangan Salam Perantauan:

Kosmo! Salam Perantauan

1. Photo location -> Make sure pilih spot yg nmpak oversea. Kalau kt Sydney, amik la gmbar with the Sydney Opera House kat as the background. Kalau xsempat nk g bergambar kt landmark2 area tpt korg, cari la mana2 campus building yg ad seni architecture yg style western2 ckit.

2. Clarity and Attire -> Kalau boleh amik gambar yg clear nmpak gmbr korg, doesn't mean that it has to be close up muka jer. Just make sure figure korg clear lam gmbar yg nk dipublish kan tu. Pakaian lak biasanya pkai baju raya, tp ade je yg pkai baju jacket tebal like puffer tu kuar paper gak. So depends jgk la.

3. Email -> Ni part paling penting. Time nk emailkan gambar tu dekat publisher, make sure guna email university korg. In my case, i guna email dotdotdot@vanderbilt.edu. This way publisher tau yg korg mmg btul2 student oversea.

4. Publisher -> send your photo kat byk2 publisher sbb bukan smua publisher sudi nk kuarkn gmbar korg kt paper dorg. Maybe gmbar korg x lepas piawai dorg. I sent to Utusan Malaysia, Kosmo!, Berita Harian tapi Kosmo! je yg published. Kalau korg nk dorg publish kat website dorg pn boleh jgk. just sent kt link (online) kt bawah ni. Kalau online biasanya cepat sikit kuar gmbr korg (and has higher probability to be published).

Berita Harian: salamaidilfitri@bharian.com.my
Utusan Malaysia: raya@utusan.com.my (paper), http://xtive.utusan.com.my/salam_perantauan/ (online)
Kosmo : salam.perantauan@kosmo.com.my

p/s: Dah send tu, jgn lupa pulak beli paper. Check tiap2 hari sbb publisher xkan notify korg kalau gmbar korg kuar paper dorg ke tak. All the best!